Improvement in watches



E. F. PERRET.

Watch.

Patented Oct. 20. 1863.

the seeondshand.

UNITED STATES EDI/VARI) FAV-RE PERRET, OF LOOLE, SWITZERLAND.

MPROVEMENT IN WATCHES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,358, dated October.20, 19,63.

T0 all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD FAVRE PER- RET, of Locle, Switzerland, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Watches; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, and complete specification of thesame, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming a parthereof, which are fully described herein, and in which- Similar lettersindicate similar parts in all the figures.

My invention is an improvement in the manner ofconneeting thesecondshaud 7 with the train7 whereby I am enabled to start and to stopthat hand at pleasure without a'ecting i the. train, and it isparticularly applicable to l watches having a central, or, as it iscalled, an independent7 seconds-hand. l

In the drawings, Figure I represents a plan l view of the plate under'the dial, so mucht only of the parts being shown as is necesl sary toexplain my invention. Fig. II is a l vertical central section, and Fig.III is a plan view ofthe under side ofthe plate, and ofthe l parts of myimprovement.

At c is seen the fourth or seconds7 wheel ofthe train, a being itspinion. This wheel l and its pinion are free to revolve around the gstatt' Z) of the secondshand, which has its l pivot in the outer backplate of the watch, and extends through a tube on the central plate tothe dial in the usual manner, and seen at c.

To cause the seconds-wheel to give rotation to the staff Z1, there is acollet or clutch, d, made to slide upon the staff and also to turn withit. There is a coiled spring, e, on the staff, tending to keep theclutch pressed against the end of the pinion a ofthe secondswheel, andwhen so pressed the frictionofthe two is sufcient to insure a properrotation of When the seconds hand is to be stopped, the clutch is to belifted away from the end ofthe pinion, and to be held so firmly as toprevent the friction of the pinion around the staff from carrying thestaff with it. This is effected by a forked lever, f, which embraces theclutch, as shown in Figs. Il and III, and which, when holding the clutchaway from the pinion7 compresses the coiled spring e, thereby making thefriction of the clutch against the forks of the lever sufcient to holdthe statt' at rest. The lever f has its fulcrum at i thence it passesthrough to the upper side of the central plate, as seen in Fig. II,where its other end is made to extend partially over the face ofaratchet-wheel, k, on the plate. This wheel has two sets ot'ratchet-teeth, the one, l, upon its edge, and these must be an evennumber, the other set, n, is upon the face of the wheel, near its edge,and ofhalf the number-of the set Z. Both sets of teeth are inclined inthe same direction, and the outer end of the leverfis made to press downalways upon the teeth n by the spring o. A pawl, p, is so placed withregard to the ratchet-wheel that it shall take into the teeth Z on theedge, and be operated by means of a stud, 1', which extends out throughthe case, to be depressed by the iinger. It has also a spring, s, whichserves the double purpose ot keeping the pawl engaged with the ratchet,and of retiring it outward for the next depression.

The operation will be as follows: If, atoommencing, the outer arm of thelever] be resting in the bottom of one of the teeth a, as shownv in theseveral figures, the clutch (l will then rest against the end of thepinion a of the seconds-wheel, and will cause the stati` oftheseconds-hand to be carried around with it. If, now, the stud r bepressed in, the ratchet-wheel will be carried onward one notch of theouter teeth, l, and as there are twice as many of these as ot the teethn the lever-armf will ride up one of those and remain held up. Thisaction withdraws the clutch d from the end ofthe pinion, and also holdsthe staff, as before explained. rIhe seconds hand is now stopped,although it is obvious that the other movements will still pro` gress.If the stud be now pressed in again,

the arm of the lever will drop over the tooth upon which it was held up,and the clutch will again press upon the end ofthe pinion.

It will be seen that by my improvement only a single mainspring andtrain are required to obtain all the advantages of an independentseconds-hand for the measurement of fractions of a minute.

I claim- So combining the secoudshand with the fourth or seconds wheelthat the seeondshand can be stopped, and permanently held or started atpleasure without affecting the movements of the seconds-wheel,substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

Witnesses: El). FAVRE PERRET.

B. BAREETET, G. NEsTLii.

